Mended Hearts
by Alex Foster
Summary: Sent by Zelda on a mission to retrieve a stolen item, Ruto finds aid from an unexpected source: Dark Link. One shot.


Title: Mended Hearts

Author: Alex Foster

Category: General

Rating: PG

Summary: Sent by Zelda on a mission to retrieve a stolen item, Ruto finds aid from an unexpected source: Dark Link. One shot.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Nintendo. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story is in response to a challenge posted by Jedidragoon in the Zelda Story Challenge Forum. It called for a story to feature Dark Link, Ruto, a jagged knife, a necklace, a keg, and a setting of the Gerudo Fortress. I hope I did her idea justice. Be sure to check out the forum for other great challenges. Thanks for reading.

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_The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of._

_Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)_

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Moonlight, Ruto decided, was beautiful anywhere reflected over water. Even in Goddessless wastelands like the one she currently found herself. 

The pale Zora made her way across the loose sandy ground to the back of a covered wagon and the kegs of water that lay open there. She ran her webbed hands lovingly through the cool, clear water. Feeling with just a touch as her skin soaked in the precious moisture and bought her a little more life in the desert.

It had been an odd journey here, she reflected. Per Zelda's personal request. The Hylian ruler couldn't go herself, obviously. The Gerudo Wasteland wasn't a friendly place to most people, but even less so to the one woman that lead a crusade against its former king.

Ruto allowed herself a slight smile at the wonder of its reception to the man just a few miles away on a thief's errand. In some ways he was linked to that crusade, but like the land around them, he was cruel and harsh and would kill them for the smallest slight.

The Zora didn't quite know why he had agreed to help her. It wasn't for Zelda's favor. Wrong brother for that. She doubted it was simply for the bag of rupees she had thrust in his hands. Money, despite what he claimed, wasn't an important concern for him. Survival was in his blood and he could always just take what he needed.

Who could possibly stand against him?

World domination, though, wasn't important to him either. Couldn't stand to save it -- again wrong one -- but couldn't stand to rule it either.

Zelda, Ruto, the other sages, and the light brother were all veterans of a world gone mad and everyone it seemed simply wanted to fade away before the history books could be written. It was only the most important of them, however, that managed the feat. He faded away despite the cries that followed him and left the cleanup for everyone else.

Ruto didn't blame him. He was a savior to so many, herself and her people included, he could be forgiven to wanting nothing more to do with the lot of them. How the other one felt about it, though, was a deep mystery to her. Anger, happiness, loneliness?

Perhaps he didn't even care at all. But still he did agree to go on this errand with her. As far as world issues went, this mission didn't rank very high. Except maybe to Zelda. And that, Ruto realized for the first time, might have been a reason onto itself for him.

A flicker of movement behind her interrupted her soak.

Ruto turned and tried to see through the dim light. The flat stretches of barren sand provided a view of miles beyond her small camp, but a Zora's eyesight was not designed for a desert night. The past several days since they crossed into the wasteland had been a struggle just to keep enough moisture in her eyes to see at all.

The blinding sun and hot dry conditions kept her hidden in the shadows of the covered carts during the day, and the consistent Gerudo patrols this close to their largest fortress didn't allow for wandering once the sun set.

Ruto peered into the darkness. It was a bird, she thought. Surely he wouldn't be back so soon. He'd barely been gone a day. Even without Nabooru and her security there, the fortress would be heavily fortified. She briefly thought to the young boy that moved so easily through the Zora levels of security so many years ago, and then discounted it with a shake of her head.

They weren't that similar.

She took a step away from the kegs of water. There was a bird roosting in the plain beyond the camp's edge, she was sure of it. Ruto held still for a moment, watching for the rustling of wings and feathers as it settled in. Nothing.

Turning back to the wagon, she was suddenly faced with her dark companion.

He stood before her barely two paces away, leaning against the kick brake of the wagon. Even in such a pose he was as relaxed as a panther on patrol. Ruto wasn't sure if he breathed as other Hylians did; every breath seemed slow and measured. Inhumanly spaced apart from each other. Even the way he walked was other worldly. Precise and sure with zero wasted movement.

If the other one moved like an arrow to its target this darker version moved like a sharp knife through skin. You never knew it was there until it was too late and you were already bleeding.

Energy crackled from the figure in front of her and smothered her. This he shared with his lighter brother. Dark eyes that never seemed to blink stared at her daringly. It was him, the man-boy Ruto once thought she loved, and at the same time he wasn't even close. His angles were cut too harsh, his power too intoxicating instead of comforting.

In his hand he gripped a jagged bladed knife and Ruto wondered stupidly for a moment if he meant to kill her with it. The image of his old worn but doubtlessly sharp knife cutting through her dry scales spilling cold blood on hot sand filled her mind.

Somehow he read that thought and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Did you find it?" Ruto managed, her voice surprisingly firm to her ears. Zelda had no idea what she had asked of her.

In response the dark man in front of her withdrew a simple gold chain from the pouch on his belt. He held it out for her. Even in the dim light she could see the not so simple gem and setting that hung from the chain.

The Goron craftsmen had made for the long since gone hero a ruby hammered into a heart shaped setting. Writing, impossibly small, was etched into the sides of the gold gem dressing. Ruto's eyes couldn't make out the words, however. This was more than a simple trinket. It was a gift from one lover to another.

And Zelda had sent her after it to bring it home.

The weight on the Zora's shoulders and sick feeling in her stomach grew heavier and deeper.

Ruto reached for it and when she grasped it her hand brushed the dark man's. In a blink his hand locked around her small wrist. There was enough strength in his grip to break her arm in two before she could shout.

"Our business is done," he said. His voice like sand blowing over parched earth. "Return home, or to the dear princess' tower, in the morning while you still have the water to do so. Don't find me again. And tell that blonde bitch this is the last thing she's going to get from me. If she wants anymore pretty things she can find the other one's grave and resurrect him."

With that he released her wrist and the necklace, turned, and was gone into the night.

Ruto stood stunned for several long moments. In that instant he said more words than during the entire journey to the wasteland, and almost scared the salt from her while doing it. No, she didn't think she would look him up again. With any luck he would vanish into oblivion like his brother had done.

And if he didn't, Zelda could deal with him. She was through.

Gathering herself, Ruto looked down on the piece in her hands. Zelda had only provided a short description to Ruto, but the dark one knew immediately what she wanted. "I know what he knew," he had simply said. How it ended up from Zelda's jewelry box to the middle of the desert was beyond her. "A thief took it," he had said. "She's dead now."

The heart charm was of amazing quality and design. Ruto wondered why he had attached it to a weak and cheap chain. The gem caught the moonlight and sent a deep purple prism of light around her camp. The touching sentiment behind such a gift struck her.

Turning it over in her hands, Ruto felt a small clasp on the underside of the charm. Curious, she moved the tiny lever to the side. With a slight pop the heart suddenly broke into two equal pieces, a fastener for a chain on both. Holding it up, she could see small hinges in the crest and tail of the heart. Her opinion of the craftsmanship and of the emptor suddenly increased. She began to think Zelda hadn't sent her on such a pointlessly dangerous mission after all, but an intensely personal and important one to the princess.

Giving one last look into the darkness for her departed traveling companion, Ruto tightened her fist and again locked the two halves together. She would make sure the necklace found its way back to its rightful owner.

End


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